UCONN MEN’S BASKETBALL: Calhoun, Huskies talk long-term extension

Connecticut basketball coach Jim Calhoun is talking to the school about a new multiyear contract.

STORRS — Connecticut basketball coach Jim Calhoun is talking to the school about a new multiyear contract.

Kyle Muncy, a spokesman for the UConn basketball program, said Tuesday that the two sides have been in discussions for some time, and that Calhoun has expressed a desire to continue coaching at UConn.

ESPN.com, citing sources it did not identify, reported Tuesday that talks would extend the 67-year-old Calhoun’s tenure at UConn into his 70s.

Muncy said he could not say how many years a new contract might run.

“It’s not going to be a one-year contract,” Muncy said. “How many years it’s going to be, I don’t know, but it will not be a one-year contract.”

Calhoun, who has two national titles and took the Huskies to the Final Four last season, is set to make $1.6 million in 2009-10, the final year of a six-year deal.

Women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma, who has brought six national championships to Storrs, recently signed a five-year, $8 million deal.

Calhoun who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005, has a career record of 805-342, good enough for sixth place on the NCAA Division I career wins list. He is 557-205 at Connecticut.

Several off-the-court issues had prompted questions about Calhoun’s future, including an investigation into UConn’s recruitment of former player Nate Miles. Calhoun has acknowledged that he or his staff may have made mistakes in recruiting Miles.

The coach also has been treated for cancer three times during his UConn career, including last summer when he successfully battled skin cancer.

In June, he had to be hospitalized after breaking several ribs during a charity bike ride.